HEAVYWEIGHT: New champion Cain Velasquez is likely to defend the title next against Alistair Overeem, provided Overeem gets licensed and beats Antonio Silva. If Silva wins, then the most likely next title shot would be Junior Dos Santos. The one Strikeforce star the jury is out on is Josh Barnett. White wouldn’t answer the question about Barnett coming in, saying he didn’t know. Indications we were given is that, for a number of reasons having to do with business, it is less than 50%, and maybe way less, but White can always change his mind. If he thinks Barnett is needed for something they want, he’ll be in. If not, there is a mentality of letting him go to Bellator because he’ll win their title, make demands, and in the end, Bellator will be weaker because of it. Time will tell how this plays out. If Stefan Struve beats Mark Hunt in Japan, and Fabricio Werdum beats Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in June in Brazil, one or the other could wind up next in line. While Daniel Cormier figured to come in maybe one fight from a title shot, the belief is with Velasquez as champion, he’ll drop to 205. Velasquez outright said he would never fight Cormier, who was in his corner at the fight and is his main wrestling coach. Cormier told me months ago that if Velasquez wins the title, he would likely drop to 205. White said that Cormier could move to 205 and get the shot at the Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen winner. Cormier over the weekend when asked the question of whether he’ll now move down, just said that some things are better left with a cliffhanger ending.
